Introduction. Intestinal parasitic infections, especially due to helminths, increase anemia in pregnant women. The results of this are low pregnancy weight gain and IUGR, followed by LBW, with its associated greater risks of infection and higher perinatal mortality rates. For these reasons, in the setting of no large previous studies in Venezuela about this problem, a national multicentric study was conducted. Methods. Pregnant women from nine states were studied, a prenatal evaluation with a coproparasitological study. Univariated and multivariated analyses were made to determine risk factors for intestinal parasitosis and related anemia. Results. During 19 months, 1038 pregnant women were included and evaluated. Intestinal parasitosis was evidenced in 73.9%: A lumbricoides 57.0%, T trichiura 36.0%, G lamblia 14.1%, E hystolitica 12.0%, N americanus 8.1%, E vermicularis 6.3%, S stercoralis 3.3%. Relative risk for anemia in those women with intestinal parasitosis was 2.56 (P < .01). Discussion. Intestinal parasitoses could be associated with conditions for development of anemia at pregnancy. These features reflect the need of routine coproparasitological study among pregnant women in rural and endemic zones for intestinal parasites. Further therapeutic and prophylactic protocols are needed. Additional research on pregnant intestinal parasitic infection impact on newborn health is also considered.

Lepidopterism refers to a spectrum of medical conditions in humans that usually involves the skin and results from contact with the adult or larval forms of certain butterflies and moths. We analyzed the epidemiologic and clinical features associated with exposure to the moth Hylesia metabus between 1970 and 2002 in the Cajigal district, Sucre, Venezuela. Fifty cases of lepidopterism mostly affecting individuals under 18 years of age were identified during this period and manifested as pruritic dermatitis with or without associated respiratory symptoms. With increased travel to endemic areas of lepidopterism, travel and tropical medicine practitioners should be aware of the clinical spectrum of this condition.

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Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is an enhanced defence response triggered when plants detect a pathogen. The response is extended to uninfected organs to protect against future attack. NPR1 is a nuclear leucinerich repeat protein with a key role in SAR. It binds specifically to salicylic acid, and acts as a transcriptional coregulator of SAR activators and an inhibitor of transcriptional repressors. The proteins encoded by Suppressor of NPR1, Constitutive (SNC1) and Suppressor of NPR1, Inducible (SNI1) interact with NPR1 to regulate the expression of pathogenesis-related genes. The Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. snc1 mutant exhibits a constitutive resistance response, but in the sni1 mutant, the SNI1 protein is rendered incapable of suppressing pathogen resistance genes. To study the influence of SNC1 and SNI1 on resistance to the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines), soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) roots were separately transformed with four constructs designed to: (i) overexpress GmSNC1, the soybean orthologue of AtSNC1; (ii) overexpress AtSNI1; (iii) silence GmSNC1 and (iv) silence GmSNI1. A significant reduction of the female nematode population was observed in Treatments (i) and (iv). The expression of SAR marker genes was analysed in these treatments. The unusual pattern of expression of pathogen resistance genes shows there are differences in the effect resistance genes have on soybean and A. thaliana. Although NPR1 is involved in the cross-talk between the salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene pathways, understanding the nematode resistance mechanism in plants is still imprecise. These results provide further insights into the soybean defence response.